Experimental Tractor Beam Mod for Beam Laser.

[Quint87]

TRACTOR BEAM.

Mechanics: Experimental Engineering to Fixed Beam Laser. M-L-H Hardpoints.

How it works: When beam hits target it will slow it down. Ultimately stopping the target and eventually forcing a reboot to the drives. Giving other commander (pirate) the advantage for a few seconds.

Mass effects Tractor Beam efficiency. IE: Smaller ships cannot effectivity use a beam laser against a larger ship. Larger ships can beam smaller ships but will have a harder time keeping it on target.

Size of beam (M-L-H) will determine the speed/power of the tractor beam.

Negatives: Generates a massive amount of heat to the point of damaging ship. Will need heat management to stay on target.


Could have many uses in different scenarios. Would fit into game play if balanced correctly.

 

[varonica]

It's an interesting idea, I mean tractor beams are featured in almost every single sci-fi universe, except the ones that actually try to implement realistic physics, because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes.

 

[HRDiagram]

Whenever I hear/read "tractor beam" I instantly think of this

While I don't see pulling rays making their appearance in the ED universe (but, who knows?), it would be nice if a similar function was introduced within the technologies currently available: i.e. propulsion limpets, that grapple onto a ship (whose thrusters have been previously disabled) to align its speed to the ship that launched them. A group of coordinated collection limpets, basically.

 

[varonica]

Whenever I hear/read "tractor beam" I instantly think of this

View attachment 408597
While I don't see pulling rays making their appearance in the ED universe (but, who knows?), it would be nice if a similar function was introduced within the technologies currently available: i.e. propulsion limpets, that grapple onto a ship (whose thrusters have been previously disabled) to align its speed to the ship that launched them. A group of coordinated collection limpets, basically.

Yeah that would work, not against grapples or limpets, although I would prefer there be a speed difference limit for grapples, I imagine trying to grapple an object moving past at 300 or 400ms might cause a few issues!

 

[Vermin]

TRACTOR BEAM.

Mechanics: Experimental Engineering to Fixed Beam Laser. M-L-H Hardpoints.

How it works: When beam hits target it will slow it down. Ultimately stopping the target and eventually forcing a reboot to the drives. Giving other commander (pirate) the advantage for a few seconds.

Mass effects Tractor Beam efficiency. IE: Smaller ships cannot effectivity use a beam laser against a larger ship. Larger ships can beam smaller ships but will have a harder time keeping it on target.

Size of beam (M-L-H) will determine the speed/power of the tractor beam.

Negatives: Generates a massive amount of heat to the point of damaging ship. Will need heat management to stay on target.


Could have many uses in different scenarios. Would fit into game play if balanced correctly.

It would be horrendous in PvP so I'm gonna need to give that a hard pass.

Nice idea, but not really suited for Elite's combat architecture. Fine for PvE, gamebreaking in PvP.

Beam implies hitscan, hitscan weapons are not particularly challenging to aim, so this would instantly become oppressive.

 

[Chrystoph]

It's an interesting idea, I mean tractor beams are featured in almost every single sci-fi universe, except the ones that actually try to implement realistic physics, because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes.

Except that you have FSD Interdiction, which is not only a Tractor Beam, but FTL as well.

 

[Quint87]

It's an interesting idea, I mean tractor beams are featured in almost every single sci-fi universe, except the ones that actually try to implement realistic physics, because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes.

Hitting another vehicle with a beam and overheating/slowing the drives seems like a very plausible ED physics possibility. But hey, Aliens with organic tech and pulse waves that cancel out other ships are cool.. speed of light drives are totally possible too.. as well as star jumping and FUEL SCOOPING A STAR..

Tractor beams tho? Too much.



Varonica.. I recognized your account from like a year ago haha.. This was your rely to my player Colonization/building thread.. Which is now coming in game.

There is no mechanic for how outposts work, they are fixed assets that are placed as a unit. Not sure what they expect FDEV to run a Beta on but putting base construction in the game would be almost like building an entirely new game.

Stay optimistic bud.

 

[Dragsham]

Prefer a grappling hook. No heat issues and a wing of smaller ships could theoretically grapple a larger ship and slow it down. Same could be said for a tractor beam small ships wing vs a larger victim.?
Bump stopping is a clumsy affair. Even after mastering it i have to wait for the crippled ships shields to come up.

So any given alternative has a +1 from me

 

[Vermin]

Hitting another vehicle with a beam and overheating/slowing the drives seems like a very plausible ED physics possibility. But hey, Aliens with organic tech and pulse waves that cancel out other ships are cool.. speed of light drives are totally possible too.. as well as star jumping and FUEL SCOOPING A STAR..

Tractor beams tho? Too much.



Varonica.. I recognized your account from like a year ago haha.. This was your rely to my player Colonization/building thread.. Which is now coming in game.

Stay optimistic bud.

Think about how interactions between players function.

Sure, you would be able to pirate with this if it were implemented, however you can already pirate people with a Grom-Bomb and hatch breakers (believe me, like 0.1% of the playerbase knows how to stop hatchbreakers without a PDT)

The impact it would have on PvP however, would be utterly horrendous. It would instantly become meta, and make ganking even easier than it is now. Three ships with tractor beams instantly shutting down a ship's ability to maneuver and removing any chance they had at an escape within a couple of seconds.

This is not a healthy concept.

 

[Disemboweled Ego]

This effectively exists if you put thermal shock on a beam laser and shoot the enemy enough to overheat them which stops the AI from boosting.

 

[Quint87]

Think about how interactions between players function.

Sure, you would be able to pirate with this if it were implemented, however you can already pirate people with a Grom-Bomb and hatch breakers (believe me, like 0.1% of the playerbase knows how to stop hatchbreakers without a PDT)

The impact it would have on PvP however, would be utterly horrendous. It would instantly become meta, and make ganking even easier than it is now. Three ships with tractor beams instantly shutting down a ship's ability to maneuver and removing any chance they had at an escape within a couple of seconds.

This is not a healthy concept.

MASSIVE heat generated. Can only stay on target for a bit. Does not Damage other ship. Pirating ship will take hull/module damage. Opposing ship would be able to break the tractor beam.

For pvp, turn around and blast the pirate ship/make it heat up even more. They would have to stay on target for a while while not doing any damage.
Edit* Ship that is getting Tractor Beamed does not shut down, Drives get slow and eventually reboot, however you would still have the ability to use your weapons.

 

[Dragsham]

The impact it would have on PvP however, would be utterly horrendous. It would instantly become meta, and make ganking even easier than it is now. Three ships with tractor beams instantly shutting down a ship's ability to maneuver and removing any chance they had at an escape within a couple of seconds.

This is not a healthy concept.

Verily.
But gankers tend to operate alone, knowing how screwed up instancing as a wing is. But yes wholly agree something would have to be done to address ganking.
The answer to that lies in a rework of law & order.

 

[Quint87]

Prefer a grappling hook. No heat issues and a wing of smaller ships could theoretically grapple a larger ship and slow it down. Same could be said for a tractor beam small ships wing vs a larger victim.?
Bump stopping is a clumsy affair. Even after mastering it i have to wait for the crippled ships shields to come up.

So any given alternative has a +1 from me

I would be down for a limpet/grappling hook.

 

[Vermin]

MASSIVE heat generated. Can only stay on target for a bit. Does not Damage other ship. Pirating ship will take hull/module damage. Opposing ship would be able to break the tractor beam.

For pvp, turn around and blast the pirate ship/make it heat up even more. They would have to stay on target for a while while not doing any damage.
Edit* Ship that is getting Tractor Beamed does not shut down, Drives get slow and eventually reboot, however you would still have the ability to use your weapons.

You will not be forcing a good player off target, you'd just eat a boatload of damage for trying to fight.

Maneuverability is everything in PvP, if you can't avoid fire, you die. Simple as. This would amount to a significantly stronger form of Drag Drives.

As for heat, Thermal Conduit is already meta due to its damage boost potential and its not unusual for ships to be running massively over their 100% heat limit to leverage this bonus.

 

[Vermin]

Verily.
But gankers tend to operate alone, knowing how screwed up instancing as a wing is. But yes wholly agree something would have to be done to address ganking.
The answer to that lies in a rework of law & order.

Even a solo player will be able to nuke you with a tool like this, probably even incredibly un-skilled ones.

Something like this, that limits maneuverability in such a way has no place within the combat architecture. None at all.

Yeah, something should be done to fix ganking, you know, like giving PvP players some actual game-based content in regards to Powerplay so we're fighting over territory instead of randomly popping whatever we can find :3

 

[varonica]

Varonica.. I recognized your account from like a year ago haha.. This was your rely to my player Colonization/building thread.. Which is now coming in game.

And I said not a thing about the practicality of implementing tractor beam tech, just about whether or not it fits in with the game universe, but sure you bring up past comments to try and imply you have a valid point!

 

[aRJay]

Prefer a grappling hook. No heat issues and a wing of smaller ships could theoretically grapple a larger ship and slow it down. Same could be said for a tractor beam small ships wing vs a larger victim.?
Bump stopping is a clumsy affair. Even after mastering it i have to wait for the crippled ships shields to come up.

So any given alternative has a +1 from me

I would be down for a limpet/grappling hook.

A limpet is a quite feasible idea as seen in the UFO episode where Straker wants to get space junk cleared.

A grappling hook would need hundreds of meters of cable and could lead to all sorts of issues.

I don’t see how the tractor beam would be an experimental on a laser it would make much more sense as separate device mounted on the hard point instead of a weapon.

But if it was introduced then its counterpart from many SF novels the Presser Beam should also be allowed as a counter.

 

[Quint87]

And I said not a thing about the practicality of implementing tractor beam tech....

"...because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes." -you

You trolling?

 

[AnchorWriter]

Given the hardpoints and handrails mounted on the exteriors of ships, I'd guess Frontier were thinking of some sort of armature similar to the Space Shuttle's Canadarm module, possibly involving limpets and/or the hardpoints themselves. I was looking up camera tripods and microphone stand accessories when it sort of hit me out of the blue. Who knows...

 

[varonica]

"...because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes." -you

You trolling?

You understand I was referring to the real universe there and not the game universe, I can only believe you are trolling madly and standing in one spot achieving nothing. I mean they could put magic wands in the game that magically moved you around the galaxy if they had a mind, would you like that in the game? Nice clipping of my comment and posting it out of context there as well! Let me add the bit you removed so that people coming along and not reading the full thread know what you are doing;

It's an interesting idea, I mean tractor beams are featured in almost every single sci-fi universe, except the ones that actually try to implement realistic physics, because there's nothing in physics that even imply tractor beams are possible. ED is one of those universes.

So ED us one of those "sci-fi" universes, like "The Expanse" universe, that tries to implement realistic physics as much as possible, you see how it actually makes sense when posted in context instead of butchered to imply I said something entirely different! Of course it's not possible to do that entirely and have a good game, so they stretch the rules a bit so we can go FTL and etc, otherwise it wouldn't be fun taking years to travel to the next star. However note there is no artificial gravity in the ED universe either, because modern physics also rules that out, but again we have glasses that sit on tables and etc in outposts with no gravity because game reasons.

So in context, because tractor beams aren't necessary for gamification, there are other ways similar effects can be achieved as suggested without the physics breaking problem of tractor beams, and FDEV do like to emulate physics as accurately as possible while still keeping the game fun, tractor beams are probably out, oh they would be possible to implement sure, but they wouldn't fit the game.